Zero Dark Thirty Review

I'm going to have nightmares for at least three weeks.

"There's no way this movie could possibly live up to the hype", I said.  "No way it's as disturbing as they say", I told myself.  "I'll be fine".  Despite the fact that most critics have already screened "Zero Dark Thirty" well ahead of it's release this Friday, I was convinced it was overhyped - and let's face it, it is very difficult to go in to a movie that's garnered so much early hype and Oscar buzz and not be disappointed.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

Watching "Zero Dark Thirty" made me realize just how detached we've become from the "war on terror".  We spend our days going about our daily business with our short-term memories of what we were told on the news.  Of course you remember everything about September 11th, but the film is filled with bombings you'll likely have forgotten about that jerk you out of your seat because you don't see them coming.  There are assasinations (and assasination attempts) you never heard about.  There are torture scenes that will have you squeamishly squirming in your seat.  And there is Maya.

CIA agent "Maya", played by Jessica Chastain

I'm guessing "Maya Zero Dark Thirty" will be a popular Google search after the film opens on Friday because you've never heard of her.  Maya's not her real name, but she is the CIA agent the film depicts as the primary reason we got Bin Laden.  In fact, we learn that her ruthlessness and single-minded goal of getting him is perhaps the only reason we did.  It's further enlightening that the two of the top agents leading the hunt in the field were women.  Which maybe shouldn't be a big deal, but it is.

The step by step search for Bin Laden that encompasses the first 90 minutes of the film- with its missed leads, leads gone awry, death, torture, back-stabbing, disappointment and fury that we still haven't got him - is the kind of drama that is so good, you almost couldn't imagine Hollywood writing it.  It's too good.  But it is a testament to the greatness of this film that it tops itself with the part you probably know the most about.  The actual Seal Team 6 capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden has been written about, documented on newsmagazine specials, and has been described in detail.  You know what the compound looks like.  You know one of the helicopters crashed.  You know that Bin Laden was the last one they got inside, up on the third floor.  But it plays out like you don't know a thing.

It sounds ridiculous to say I feel emotionally damaged after having seen this movie.  It is...a movie, after all.  But I do.  I can't stop thinking about it.  I swear I cannot possibly imagine what our brave men and women protecting us emotionally go through every minute of every day.

I mean...this was just a movie.

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